FCC orders AT&T to refund overcharged “grandfathered” data users

Some customers who had pay-as-you-go phone plans were pushed into monthly plans.

Late Tuesday afternoon, the FCC announced it signed a consent decree (PDF) with AT&T in which the telecom company promised to refund consumers who had been unfairly pushed from a pay-as-you-go wireless data plan to a monthly data plan. AT&T instated the monthly data plan in 2009, but promised customers who were already buying wireless data through AT&T that they would be "grandfathered" into the new pricing structure, thus keeping their lower data rates.

The FCC says it spent a year investigating "complaints that the company switched certain consumers to its mandatory monthly wireless data plans even though it had promised they could retain their existing pay-as-you-go data plans." The commission said AT&T applied the new price structure to people who had replaced their phones under warranty or insurance, or moved to new areas of the US. AT&T specifically promised not to enforce price tiers on those customers.

As part of AT&T's consent decree, it will refund customers who had been unfairly charged up to $30 per month (depending on their data use, of course) and it will pay $700,000 to the US Treasury. "AT&T has also agreed to an extensive compliance plan, which includes: consumer notification, training of customer care representatives, and periodic compliance reports to the FCC," the FCC's press release read. AT&T must also perform extra audits of its records to find improperly charged customers.

Michele Ellison, Chief of the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau, gave a written statement. "We strongly encourage AT&T subscribers to check their bills closely and contact the company if they spot any overcharges related to wireless data."

14 Reader Comments

Hey, I don't want to sound like a troll, but AT&T is notorious for this kind of thing. The AT&T prime directive is to nickle and dime the customer now and forever. I'm happy the FCC called them on this one.

I made a recording of a discussion with ATT on my service. i had a pay as you go plan on an iPhone, which I enjoyed. The started overcharging me, claiming there was a computer error. Would I like to change plans? no. They overcharged me again. I called and after 30 minutes all was well again.

I asked - for the record - 'do you (ATT) have any program internally to check if you are overcharging people' - no, we have no such program, or project.

and on the story went.

This is miracle. ATT actually held accountable for lying? Could it be lying isn't going to be the way to get ahead any longer. Holy moses. 2 miracles in one day.

According to criminaldefenselawyer.com; in Texas (where AT&T has its headquarters, so the likely place where AT&T would be charged with theft), AT&T committed a class C misdemeanor:

"Theft is a class C misdemeanor in Texas if the value of the property or services stolen is less than $50. (Tex. Pen. Code Ann. § 31.03(e)(1)(A).) The punishment for a class C misdemeanor in Texas is a fine of no more than $500, and does not involve any jail time. (§ 12.23.)"

However, that only covers the first time it charged one customer. But we know it stole from millions of customers, and it did it millions of times. According to the site:

"If a person has one prior conviction for any level of theft, any theft that the person later commits in Texas, involving property or services valued at less than $50, will become a Class B misdemeanor rather than a Class C misdemeanor. (§ 31.03(e)(2)(B).)"

But we know AT&T did this more than twice, which bumps the charges up to a felony:

"If a person has two or more prior convictions for any level of theft, any theft that the person later commits in Texas, involving property or services valued at less than $1,500, will become a state jail felony rather than a Class B or Class A misdemeanor. (§ 31.03(e)(4)(D).)"

"Theft is a state jail felony in Texas if the value of the property or services stolen is $1,500 or more but less than $20,000, or if the property is of a specific type, such as a firearm or certain livestock valued at less than $20,000. (§ 31.03(e)(4).) The punishment for a state jail felony in Texas is incarceration ranging from 180 days to two years of in a state jail, plus a fine of no more than $10.000. (§ 12.35.)"

As far as the law is concerned, the fine is closer to AT&T having done nothing wrong than the fine and/or jail time it should have faced! Even with a lowball estimate of AT&T doing this to only 12 million times, AT&T should be at least fined $6,000,000,000 in accordance to the Class C Misdemeanor Theft statute. Although in reality it should be fined at least $120,000,000,000 for committing state jail felonies numerous times and spend 24 million years in jail. I'm not sure how the jail time would work though. Remember, AT&T is a real, live person now! Well, a "person."

No matter how you look at this, the penalty AT&T received in no way reflects the crime[s] it committed!

Hey, I don't want to sound like a troll, but AT&T is notorious for this kind of thing. The AT&T prime directive is to nickle and dime the customer now and forever. I'm happy the FCC called them on this one.

Me Too ! ATT Diskced my 89 year old Dad over and had me on the phone trying to straighten out their mess.Cost my Dad over what he should of spent by a couple hundred.He had to get a IT Guy over to get him Online.Should of worked perfect and he spent $150 there to find out in the end ATT never properly hooked up Wires in Condo Complex.ATT hooked up wrong connection in bib circuit box.Also told him Bill would be !9.95 per month then proceeded to charge 34.95 first month and second month went up to 43.95

According to criminaldefenselawyer.com; in Texas (where AT&T has its headquarters, so the likely place where AT&T would be charged with theft), AT&T committed a class C misdemeanor:

"Theft is a class C misdemeanor in Texas if the value of the property or services stolen is less than $50. (Tex. Pen. Code Ann. § 31.03(e)(1)(A).) The punishment for a class C misdemeanor in Texas is a fine of no more than $500, and does not involve any jail time. (§ 12.23.)"

However, that only covers the first time it charged one customer. But we know it stole from millions of customers, and it did it millions of times. According to the site:

"If a person has one prior conviction for any level of theft, any theft that the person later commits in Texas, involving property or services valued at less than $50, will become a Class B misdemeanor rather than a Class C misdemeanor. (§ 31.03(e)(2)(B).)"

But we know AT&T did this more than twice, which bumps the charges up to a felony:

"If a person has two or more prior convictions for any level of theft, any theft that the person later commits in Texas, involving property or services valued at less than $1,500, will become a state jail felony rather than a Class B or Class A misdemeanor. (§ 31.03(e)(4)(D).)"

"Theft is a state jail felony in Texas if the value of the property or services stolen is $1,500 or more but less than $20,000, or if the property is of a specific type, such as a firearm or certain livestock valued at less than $20,000. (§ 31.03(e)(4).) The punishment for a state jail felony in Texas is incarceration ranging from 180 days to two years of in a state jail, plus a fine of no more than $10.000. (§ 12.35.)"

As far as the law is concerned, the fine is closer to AT&T having done nothing wrong than the fine and/or jail time it should have faced! Even with a lowball estimate of AT&T doing this to only 12 million times, AT&T should be at least fined $6,000,000,000 in accordance to the Class C Misdemeanor Theft statute. Although in reality it should be fined at least $120,000,000,000 for committing state jail felonies numerous times and spend 24 million years in jail. I'm not sure how the jail time would work though. Remember, AT&T is a real, live person now! Well, a "person."

No matter how you look at this, the penalty AT&T received in no way reflects the crime[s] it committed!

I'm guessing lawyers use that same argument when they charge folks in P2P torrenting cases. Except the P2P torrenters don't get any profits from what they torrent while ATT did. And, ATT's fine is a drop in the bucket to them while the same fine leveraged against joe avg citizen ruins that citizen for life.

Hey, I don't want to sound like a troll, but AT&T is notorious for this kind of thing. The AT&T prime directive is to nickle and dime the customer now and forever. I'm happy the FCC called them on this one.

Me Too ! ATT Diskced my 89 year old Dad over and had me on the phone trying to straighten out their mess.Cost my Dad over what he should of spent by a couple hundred.He had to get a IT Guy over to get him Online.Should of worked perfect and he spent $150 there to find out in the end ATT never properly hooked up Wires in Condo Complex.ATT hooked up wrong connection in bib circuit box.Also told him Bill would be !9.95 per month then proceeded to charge 34.95 first month and second month went up to 43.95

Screw You ATT !

If you're talking about landline, you can file a complaint with your state's Public Utility Commission (PUC). They love hearing about large telco's abusing customers.